


In Unity, There is Strength

by jojo_sain



Series: Of Serpents and Scandals [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Riverdale (TV 2017), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Basically Riverdale Universe but with Descendants characters, F/F, F/M, Gangs, Hopefully the first of many, Nobody is straight in this AU, Riverdale AU, Serpents vs Ghoulies, affairs and flings, mention of drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 19:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18212897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jojo_sain/pseuds/jojo_sain
Summary: In the town of Auradon, two gangs dominate the Southside: The Serpents and The Ghoulies. Mal, the leader of the next generation of Ghoulies wants to strike a deal with her Serpent counterpart, Uma, when they find that they will all attend Auradon Prep at the end of the summer. Will they strike a fair deal? Or will one side take the upper hand?





	In Unity, There is Strength

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy this little AU ;) (Also, Happy Birthday to my good friend on Tumblr @coco-rena)

Uma _hated_ this place.

She didn’t have enough hands to count off the places she’d rather be than here. Those places include the bottom of Sweetwater River, back in juvy, or–and dare she even suggest it–living in the Northside. Yeah, she’d rather go to all of those places three times over than be _here_.

_Here_ was hell.

Literally, that’s what they called it! The Ghoulies were really committed to their theme of death, so their founder–an old fellow named Hades, ironically–called their base of operations Hell.

While Uma was down with low lighting and used to the odor of cheap liquor and cigarette smoke, she couldn’t help but hate the Ghoulie hideout. She was a Southside Serpent, after all.

The reason for why she found herself in the place she despised most was for a peaceful parley– _peaceful_ , assuming the Ghoulies didn’t make a move first. Well, the teen Ghoulies, anyway. Uma was there to meet with the self-appointed leader of the younger Ghoulies, Mal. Uma had her own personal conflict with her, but she had to shove that down for the moment. She was there to represent the younger Serpents, and she was _not_ self-appointed, she would point out.

Uma wasn’t alone, of course. With her was Harry Hook, son of Serpent King James Hook, and Gil Legume, some extra muscle and the final addition to their fortified trio. It was standard procedure. Never get caught alone in your enemy’s territory, especially when that enemy was once your friend.

Besides, in unity, there is strength.

Uma was waiting in the dope house the teen Ghoulies called home, sitting uneasily in an old wooden chair. Harry and Gil flanked her on either side, their arms crossed over their chest with intimidating grimaces firmly etched into their features. Around them, hollow-eyed kids were either getting high, already high, or coming down from a high. Occasionally, some brave stoner would look at the Serpents or even make some snide remark. A growl from Harry or a flex of Gil’s arms would usually shut them up, but if that didn’t work, a stone cold glare from Uma would do the trick.

The torn up couch in front of them remained empty, and Uma assumed it was the royal throne, used only by Mal and her inner circle. Her eyes wandered from the couch to the clock on the wall. The glass was smashed, and after a few seconds of watching the second hand twitch an inch forward and an inch back, Uma concluded it was broken. She didn’t like not knowing the time, but then again, a broken clock is right twice a day.

Out of her peripheral vision, Uma saw Harry leave his position to kneel next to her chair. She kept her eyes in front of her while he leveled his lips to her ear and whispered, “Ye seem on edge, love.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Uma grumbled in response, keeping her voice down so the stoned drones around her couldn’t hear her. “I hate this place.”

“I know ye do, darling,” Harry sighed, looking around him at the vape clouds. Uma rolled her eyes at his insistent nicknames. She’d usually cater to his ploys for attention, but she was in no mood to comply today. Harry, however, seemed to be in a different mind.

“Ye know,” Harry whispered mischievously, one hand subtly making its way up her lower leg to her knee. Despite her black jeans, Uma could feel his touch as though he was grazing her skin. For a split second, she let herself get goosebumps, but she quickly suppressed them despite Harry’s suggestion. “After this meetin’, perhaps the two of us can go back to my trailer, and I can ease some of that tension for ye.”

Uma started hard at the far corner of the room, keeping Harry out of her vision. Sure, it wouldn’t have been the first time she and Harry had a rendezvous in his trailer, but as of recently, Uma has been less inclined to accept his proposals. Now, Harry was still some kind of a gentleman, so he would never force himself upon her. He would do what any well-groomed gang member would do: find someone else who was up for it. It wasn’t like he and Uma were dating or anything.

“I appreciate the offer, Hook,” Uma answered monotonously, shaking her knee once to send Harry the message. At once, he removed his hand. “But I’m not in the mood tonight.”

There was a brief pause where Harry looked at the drug-stained floor in melancholy acceptance before saying, “Aye,” and returning to his post behind her chair.

Indeed, they were not an official couple, but Harry considered himself to be the next best thing. He was her second-in-command, a lieutenant, a first mate. His father would prefer that he be the one to lead the next generation of serpents, but Harry had no problem stepping aside, especially when he was going to ask Uma to be his queen when the time came that he took the throne from his father. They’d been friends since they were little snakelings, the son of the Serpent King and the daughter of a Snake Charmer. They were bound to become thick as thieves with all of the meetings their parents had. Time went on, friendship turned into innocent flirting, which turned into a casual hook up. Even though they weren’t together-together, Harry knew of no one else Uma trusted like him. Allowing a smug smirk to ease onto his features, Harry crossed his arms and looked ahead of him, awaiting the Ghoulies’ leader as he did before.

A minute later, the curtains before them were yanked open, and out walked a tall, muscular boy with long black hair. Uma recognized him as Jay, Mal’s lieutenant. She'd seen him on the streets, dealing to anyone who would buy while also slipping a little extra than what he was owed from his target's pockets. He stood beside the couch, arms crossed over his chest to flex his bare arms, similar to how Gil and Harry stood.

Following him was a much smaller boy with white hair. Despite his eyeliner being almost as intense as Harry’s, Uma knew he was easily frightened. Carlos de Vil, a young genius brought onto the Ghoulies for his chemical expertise, which is used to brew drugs in the most efficient ways possible. Uma’s humanity would argue he didn't deserve to live on the Southside. He sat on the armrest opposite Jay and dared to make eye contact with the Serpents for barely a second.

Next to emerge from the curtains was a blue-haired dame. Unlike the other girls in the dope house, her appearance wasn’t raggedy and unkept. She held her head high with importance and regality and sat on the couch, crossing her legs as if she were wearing a royal gown and not a leather skirt over fishnets. Uma didn’t recognize her from personal encounters, but she knew from a reliable source that the blue hair marked her as Evie Grimhilde, a very new addition to the Ghoulies with very… _unorthodox_ origins.

Finally, a pale girl with an uneven purple bob emerged from behind the torn curtains, and Uma brown eyes immediately filled with hatred as they met her green ones. Mal, she who claimed so tenaciously that she was a descendant of Hades himself, thus giving her the best grounds to take leadership of the Ghoulies. Mal, the daughter of a single mother who has no gang affiliation but sure as hell holds the drug trade in the palm of her hand.

Mal, who was once a Serpent and Uma’s dearest friend until she jumped at the chance to lead their rivals instead.

“Welcome to Hell,” Mal said coolly with an evil smirk and a broad gesture of her arms. She made her way to the front of the couch with an eerily slow pace, not once breaking eye contact with Uma. With deliberate motion, Mal sat down beside Evie and draped her arms on the back of the couch. Uma noticed how the hand beside Evie’s head briefly played with a lock of her blue hair. Mal wanted Uma to see, to stir a reaction out of her.

Okay, maybe they were a little more than friends when Mal was a Serpent.

However, Uma kept her composure. Mal’s smile still widened, just from knowing that Uma saw her ploy. She was trying to make a message very clear to Uma: _“You’ve been replaced.”_

“Now, let’s talk business,” Mal announced, and all of the humming and whispers of high teenagers around them immediately ceased. “As you may have heard, both your high school and mine are being shut down.”

“I’ve heard,” Uma replied with an even tone, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. Both of them attended separate branches of the same school. There was Southside High: the Eastern Branch, which was nicknamed Dragon Hall for its mascot and the common presence of a dragon tattoo on some of the Ghoulies that populated the halls. The other school was Southside High: the Western Branch, cleverly referred to as Serpent Prep since most of its students are serpents. Needless to say, the schools were just as much rivals as the gangs were, but both were equally ridden with drugs and alcohol and gang activity, and thus, Mayor La Bete was forced to shut both schools down.

“And the students are being redistributed into high schools all over the Northside,” Mal continued. “Most of us are being sent to the oh-so-exclusive Auradon Prep to prevent crowding.”

Uma also knew that. She, Harry, and Gil along with several other young Serpents had already received notice that they will start classes at Auradon Prep at the beginning of the fall semester. “What of it?” Uma demanded, getting impatient. She expected Mal to declare a gang war over the high school’s territory, but she was completely thrown off by what she actually said.

“We should join forces.”

Uma blinked in confusion. This was some kind of set up. It _had_ to be. Mal was trying to make her look like a fool in front of everyone present. Narrowing her eyes and leaning her elbows onto her knees, Uma spat, “What’d you say?”

“You heard me,” Mal chuckled, amused at catching Uma off guard. Her tone turned serious as she explained, “It’s new territory for us both, but it’s also new opportunities. All those fully stocked chem labs, all those uncorrupted rich kids–“

“The Serpents don’t deal in drugs,” Uma growled, annoyed by the way these boneheads think.

“But you do deal in protection,” Mal articulated. “Evasion from the law, covering up crimes, and I know you can talk yourself out of any bind. Isn’t that right, spawn of the Snake Charmer?”

Uma took a deep, controlled breath, keeping her anger at bay. Mal knew the ins and outs of the Serpents, which gave her the upper hand in this situation. All Uma had on her was intel, but Mal had first-hand experience in the Serpents, and with Uma. After sighing out her breath through her nose, Uma asked accusingly, “And why would the Serpents help the Ghoulies?”

“If the Serpents help the Ghoulies stay under the radar, we can promise fifteen percent of our earnings.”

Uma snorted at the offer. If Mal was willing to pay her rivals for protection, Uma figured she must have been more desperate than she was letting on. It was the Serpent leader’s turn to stand, challenging Mal with just as much authority.

“Fifty,” Uma demanded.

“Twenty,” Mal countered.

“I’m not negotiating, Mal,” Uma retorted, taking pleasure in the palpable tension in the room. It was shifting in her favor. “If you really want the Serpents’ help, you don’t make a cent more than we do. We. Get. Fifty.”

Mal set her jaw, her unrelenting determination holding strong. “Twenty-five.”

“Seriously, Mal?” Uma sneered, a laugh playing at her voice. “The Serpents aren’t just some sell-out bodyguards. You can’t hire con artists to do what we do.”

Uma’s eyes fell upon Evie, sitting behind Mal and staring up at her leader with the slightest bit of fear in her expression. Uma knew a way to hit Mal hard, but it was a gamble. _Time to see if my intel is right,_ she thought hopefully.

“Even your _Northside_ Princess won’t be able to keep you hidden the way we can,” Uma chided, pointing right at Evie.

“Northside?” Jay repeated incredulously, taking a protective stance next to Mal. The ladder’s face had shed it’s protective mask, revealing a panicked expression.

“Oh, you don't know?” Uma inquired, feigning innocence as she walked around Jay to get to Evie, who sat up straight despite being put on the spot. Uma gestured to her while announcing to the rest of the room, “Your newest recruit here, and a high ranking one as far as I can see, was born and raised in the Northside.”

A chorus of gasps rang throughout the dope house. Ghoulies everywhere were sobered up from that one controversial reveal. One of their own, a former Northsider? It was unheard of!

Gil and Harry watched the chaos with wicked smiles. Their Uma was not to be trifled with when it came to negotiations.

Uma walked back to her place in front of Mal, remembering every detail of Mal’s frustrated expression. “They seriously didn’t know?” Uma scoffed. “Some leader you are! How do expect to keep their loyalty now?”

“So what if I’m from the Northside?” Evie stepped up from the couch and pushed past Jay to stand next to Mal, who looked just as surprised as Uma at her sudden action on the matter. Evie stared down at Uma with remarkable confidence and propped her elbow on Mal’s shoulder, a sign of allegiance. “Are you saying that no one from the Serpents has ever coerced with Northside in any way?”

“Besides the occasional under-the-table job for protection, that’d be a no,” Uma answered firmly, holding her ground against the taller girl. “We’ve taken payment from the Northsiders, but we don’t fraternize with those selfish monsters.”

“Oh, not all of them are so bad,” Evie pouted, and Uma was briefly thrown off by how genuine she seemed and how quick she was to change the whole conversation. “I know you think bad of them, but some families like the La Betes, the Charmings, the Belleroses–“

Uma’s nose twitched.

–and the Lis aren’t so bad,” Evie finished her list with a sickly sweet smile. Uma’s expression had gone hard, and unfortunately for her, Evie noticed the change in demeanor. “Are you positive that no one in your ranks has ever been tempted by the Northside?”

“Are ye bloody deaf?” Harry barked, taking his turn to stand by his leader. “The Serpents ain’t like ye weak-willed Ghoulies. We keep to our own!”

“Don’t be so sure,” Evie hummed with a wag of her painted finger. She turned her gaze back on Uma, who was still unresponsive. Evie put the last nail in her coffin. “No Serpent _Chéries_ across the tracks.”

Uma balled her hands into fists. _Chérie_ , she had said, just like…

“Twenty-five percent,” Mal restated when she noticed Uma’s eyes drop. She held out her glove-clad hand and waited. Harry looked at Uma, his certainty giving way to anxiety when she didn’t immediately reject Mal’s offer. Uma looked back up at Evie, who gave her a knowing smile.

Evie _knew_. Uma didn't know how she knew, but she knew.

Uma couldn’t say no.

Leather smacked leather as Uma took Mal’s hand and shook it twice. The room went dead silent, Ghoulies in awe, Serpents in utter disbelief. Mal’s smirk returned as she smugly said, “A Ghoulie will retrieve you from your trailer within the next week, and you will return to sign a contract with our agreed terms.” She got dangerously close to Uma’s face, and her voice dropped to a threatening whisper. “Now clear off my territory, Serpent Scum.”

With one last irritated glare at Mal and another at Evie, Uma whirled around, her braids flying about her, and stormed out of the dope house, Harry and Gil following her out. The Ghoulies watched on, serenading them with a chorus of hyena-like laughter as they made their exit.

“Well done, Evie,” Mal praised her partner, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. “I knew bringing you tonight was the right thing to do.”

“Well, you know what those silly snakes always say,” Evie replied, and Mal raised an eyebrow. “In unity, there is strength.”

“Ah right,” Mal nodded in remembrance. “One of their stupid laws.”

“They work in our favor,” Evie remarked, leaning her forehead against Mal’s and biting her lip. “To take away their strength, we take away their unity, and what better way to do that than hold their leader’s biggest secret over her head? We keep her in our pocket and expose her if she rebels.”

“Which reminds me,” Mal said, staring longingly at Evie’s lips. “What exactly is that secret again?”

* * *

 

“Uma, what the hell was that?!”

“I don’t wanna talk about it right now, Harry!”

The three Serpents had escaped the suffocating, tainted air of Hell and made their way over to their motorcycles. Uma straddled her bike and grabbed for her helmet, but Harry snatched it up out of her reach, forcing her attention back on him.

“Ye just made a deal with the Ghoulies,” Harry reminded her. Uma got off her bike and snatched her helmet away from Harry. “Ye had the upper hand, and then ye let them walk all over us by agreeing to the lesser terms! What were ye thinkin’?!”

“I said drop it!” Uma shouted, and the fury was strong enough to make Gil flinch. Harry didn’t shake in the slightest. He just stared at Uma with an unreadable expression. She’d never snapped at him like that before. It’s almost as if the person they rode with tonight wasn’t Uma at all.

“Fine,” Harry yielded, getting on his own bike and starting the motor. “But I hope for your sake, and for the Serpents’ sake, that ye know what ye just got us into.”

Harry buckled his helmet, revved his engine, and pushed off into the street. Gil followed his lead, and the lights from their bikes eventually faded into the dark of night.

Uma watched them leave with solemn regret, praying to whatever deities who would listen to a scoundrel like her that everything would turn out okay. Uma put on her helmet and started her bike, but she didn’t know where she was going. She couldn’t go back to the trailer park, not yet. She needed Harry to cool down before she explained the situation to him. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if she could explain the situation to him

Just then, her cell phone buzzed in her jacket pocket, snapping her out of her thoughts. She pulled her phone out, and her tense muscles relaxed at the sight of a faux-contact name: Syrup Salesman.

Uma opened her phone and let a smile slip onto her facets she read the text.

_'Are we still on for tonight, ma chérie?'_

Uma cursed herself for almost forgetting, but thank god the ‘Syrup Salesman’ was so attentive. She texted back a quick reply before shoving her phone back into her pocket and riding off into the night.

_'You bet. On my way, Audrey.'_

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked the first installation of my Riverdale AU! Let me know if you guys want to see more, what situations you'd like to see, and maybe I'll be motivated to write more. Also, just let me know what you think of this AU so far. Have an awesome day! -JoJo, who just had her wisdom teeth yanked and looks like a chipmunk.


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